just-author-thoughts @just-author-thoughts - Tumblr Blog

heyo this is a sideblog of @god-of-identity for the purposes of random shower thoughts and idk whatever else happens here.

mkay edit after a while of having this because the showerfam is chaotic as all hell

#shower rp is my tag for the showerfam rp stuff. if you don’t want rps on your dash then go ahead and block it. if a rp post gets too long i’ll also tag it with #long post

#ooc is for out of character but still tangentially rp related posts

#actual reponses is the tag i’m gonna start using for actually responding to @/just-shower-thoughts (because technically that’s what these blogs are supposed to be for, whoops) and any other responses I do

#author thoughts is another new tag, for any original shower-thoughts-esqe posts that i make, probably related to author thoughts as the sideblog’s name suggests

#long post #pinned post #actual thoughts

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jessepinwheel

there’s a thing I think about sometimes when I’m writing that I call ‘the rabies condition’

by which I mean: there are no contraindications to getting the rabies vaccine for post-exposure prophylaxis.

every other vaccine usually has a few contraindications like ‘don’t take this if you’re allergic to it’ or ‘if you’re pregnant discuss the risks and benefits with your doctor’ or ‘don’t give to children below age 6′ or something, but not the rabies vaccine. if you’ve been exposed to rabies, there is literally no medical reason that can justify not getting the rabies vaccine–you can be deadly allergic to literally every single ingredient and the correct decision is still to administer the vaccine, because if you don’t, you’re 100% guaranteed to die of rabies. even the life-threatening allergies are a step up in survival rate (especially since anaphylaxis is something that can be managed, even if there are risks associated with it)

which is to say, the rabies condition: if a character has been ‘exposed to rabies’, aka, in some impending absolute worst-case scenario, like the apocalypse or some death curse or the destruction of their entire city via demons or whatever, then that character has to take action and the consequences and risks no longer matter, because literally any other outcome would be better, and 1% chance of survival is still better than 0%. that doesn’t make those actions necessarily good, the same way that injecting yourself with something you know you’re deadly allergic not a good thing to do, but it’s still better than dying horrifically of rabies. desperate times and desperate measures etc

and then, after your character’s prevented some horrible thing by doing some almost equally bad thing, they should absolutely experience the consequences of those choices.

thatsgonnaleaveamark

Why does your character get kidnapped, taken hostage, held captive or tortured?

Here’s a list of possible reasons to use as prompts or inspiration :D (Comes with this generator) Feel free to add!

Character has information the antagonist needs

Character has information they shouldn’t have

Character’s friend has information the antagonist needs

Character has been undercover with antagonist and was found out

Wrong place wrong time

Antagonist wants something from character’s friends/family/team

Character committed a crime

Character has special powers that antagonist wants to experiment with

Character is non-human/is a forbidden race in their world

Character has special powers that are illegal/hunted in their world

Antagonist wants to escape and takes character hostage

Antagonist wants to try out new torture methods

Civilian(s) taken hostage by villain to lure hero out

A hero’s sidekick/friend/love interest taken hostage by villain to lure hero out or get revenge

Antagonist wants to hurt character as revenge

Character comes from rich family/position of power and antagonist wants money

Antagonist is planning to kill character but wants to have some fun first

Antagonist mistakes character for someone else

Character has certain skills that antagonist needs

writing-prompt-s

“Really?” The Dark Lord asked in disbelief, “This is the best the Chosen One can do? Screw it. If we’re doing this, we’re going to do this properly. I’ll train you.” 10 years later, your training is complete, but your time spent with the Dark Lord has given you some conflicting feelings.

"eldritch, alien, or unknowable entity wishes to destroy humanity/the earth but is won over by food and/or music" is such a fun trope to me

#author thoughts #is it common enough to be called a trope?#idk i just like it lol

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daily-dose-of-writing

#466

“A crown is a vessel for destruction if ever there was one; a hollow band of bejewelled metal that corrupts and turns a person blind to their own mindless cruelty. Once a crown has touched your head you will be lost.”

gingerly-writing

Prompt #3173

“You enjoy being ominous on purpose, don’t you?”

“Of course I do, it keeps you on your toes.”

#author thoughts #not my thought

transmasc-wizard

i'm AWARE this is a stupid hill to die on, but like. trope vs theme vs cliché vs motif vs archetype MATTERS. it matters to Me and i will die on this hill no matter how much others decide it's pointless. words mean things

transmasc-wizard

trope: 1) the use of figurative language for artistic effect; includes allegories, analogies, hyperbole, & metaphors, among others. 2) commonly reoccurring literary devices, motifs, or clichés. Includes things like the medieval fantasy setting, the Dark Lord, enemies-to-lovers, and the Chosen One.

theme: the reoccurring idea or subject in a work of art. Death, life, rebirth, change, love, what it means to be human, the definition of family, the effects of war, etc.

cliché: an element of an artistic work that has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even becoming annoying or irritating. (Most clichés are tropes but not all tropes are clichés.)

motif: a distinctive repeating feature or idea, such as the green light in The Great Gatsby. May overlap with tropes and is often used to further explore the theme.

archetype: a constantly-recurring symbol or motif; it refers to the recurrence of characters or ideas sharing similar traits throughout various, seemingly unrelated cases in classic storytelling. E.g. rags to riches, the wise old mentor. Again may overlap with tropes, clichés, and motifs, but they're not the exact same thing.

#author thoughts #not my thought

writing-prompt-s

You work for a secret agency that deals with the supernatural and you just shared a dumb idea with your boss, as a joke: “Instead of keeping everything under wraps, why don’t we just release all info to the public, but pretend it’s a work of fiction?” You got promoted on the spot.

#author thoughts #not my thought

writing-prompt-s

You’ve been sentenced to 400 years for multiple murders. It’s been 399 years and your jailers are starting to get nervous.

just-author-thoughts

immortality has it’s perks. doesn’t mean it wasn’t boring as hell spending four centuries in prison. the most exiting thing that happened was when they moved you to a new, more secure building so they could renovate the rest.

#writing prompts #author thoughts #not my thought

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write-it-motherfuckers

Person A: “We’re going about this all the wrong way, aren’t we?”

Person B: “I believe we are, yes.”

Person A: “….Should we scrap everything and take it from the top?”

Person B: “I don’t think we have any other choice.”

#author thoughts #not my thought

dingdongyouarewrong

you can explain why it’s important for aspiring authors to read published books and not just fanfiction without condescending to fanfiction authors/readers and implying it’s inherently of lesser quality

dingdongyouarewrong

like a lot of fanfiction is genuinely good and well-written! there’s some amazing work there! there is absolutely fanfiction out there that’s the same quality as well-written published works. being like ‘well, it’s cute, but it’s not real writing’ is just dismissive and frankly completely untrue.

but, at the same time, there are a lot of reasons it’s important to also read published works, and those reasons aren’t just ‘it’s better’. for one, a lot of writing original fiction involves introducing one’s own characters and setting to an audience who knows nothing about the characters or worldbuilding, which is generally not something you’re going to learn how to do by only reading stories where you already know the world and characters. that doesn’t mean the work isn’t good; it just means it doesn’t teach all of the skills you’ll need to know when writing

roach-works

im a lifelong fanfic writer, but one thing fanfic won’t teach you is how to end a story. or how to structure one, really. fanfic is itself a continuation of a story, it’s a transformative work, and… it’s kind of rare for long, chaptered fic to actually be complete. it’s awesome when it is! but you do kind of get used to reading fanfic as a big nebulous cloud of what-ifs, and furthermores, and so ons, and etc.

published fiction pretty much always has to have a start, middle, and ending. you can’t really learn formal anatomy from fanfiction. you can learn a lot of creative stuff that published fiction rarely has the freedom to engage in–aus and remixes, for instance–but fanfic really isn’t where you’re going to be able to study structure and discipline.

tsukithewolf

Thank god. Finally some good fanfic vs. published story dialogue.

mixelation

Fanfiction is also usually published as the author writes it, which means authors are limited in their ability to retroactively change story elements (removing plot holes or subplots that go nowhere, or adding foreshadowing for an important event they decided they wanted 1/3 into their story, etc). This means stories overall are generally less “polished” than professionally published work.

On a similar note, fic writers can “get away with” a lot more fluff that doesn’t move the story forward– ie, dedicating an entire chapter to characters cuddling, or spending a very long time explaining the economics system of a secret wizard world. This is a strength of fic because it’s often what people want to read– but it’s also something that usually hinges on the reader already being deeply invested in the characters and the world, which is a luxury you’re not going to get from a lot of original fiction.

derinthescarletpescatarian

Fanfiction isn’t necessarily better or worse than original fic, but it is a fundamentally different art. An aspiring fiction author reading only fanfic is like an aspiring fiction author reading only poetry; it’s great to enrich your skills by reading widely, but if you don’t read *the kind of art you are trying to make*, you won’t know how to make it.

fixyourwritinghabits

Hey as someone who does both I want to point out a few key points from this thread:

First, published recent books will give you an idea of what sells. Not that you can’t be free to write what you want, but many genres and categories have certain expectations that publishing keeps pretty rigid. Romance, for example, has some very rigid tenets that will benefit you to follow (at least until you publish enough books to start breaking them). Publishing also works on comp titles - you need to know what recent books to compare yours to in order to sell it.

This isn’t easy to hear, but if you are trying to get paid money for your work and don’t go the indie route, you have to learn what the rules are. “My book is too unique to be compared to anything else” or “my book doesn’t fit into any genre” never, ever works. Learn the genres, figure out how to make comparisons, and be willing to wait a while for things to go somewhere.

Second, pacing sins are forgiven in fanfiction. They are brutal in publishing. You can have those cuddle scenes, but they can’t get in the way of rising tension, and they certainly can’t last an entire chapter. Learning to balance quiet scenes with action scenes are something you’ll have to hone for publishing.

Third, yeah, editing is going to get you. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been through my current book and found at least five more errors per chapter despite having just gone through it, and I haven’t even turned it over to my agent yet. Augh. Fanfic readers are far more forgiving if I’ve repeated the same word within a paragraph.

However! I don’t want to disparate either - fanfiction can help you learn lots about writing, writing for publication can help you improve on your fanfic skills. It’s just important to remember that they are different, and you’ll need to know those differences if you’re looking to be published.

#author thoughts #not my thought

god-of-identity

I'm curious, writers- what are some names for fics or stories you've thought of that you just haven't gotten around to using or writing or dont think you will? A couple of mine are 'redamancy' and 'live without/can't live without'

#author thoughts #actual thought

casualwriter

Dialogue Prompts: “Back…”

1. “I’ll come back.”

“Yes, of course, but to what? This place? You deserve better.”

2. “So. You’re back.”

“Don’t get used to it.”

3. “Come back. I can’t do this alone.”

“Look, washing machines come with manuals, okay? You don’t need to tragically call me for help every time.”

#author thoughts #not my thought

dingdongyouarewrong

you can explain why it’s important for aspiring authors to read published books and not just fanfiction without condescending to fanfiction authors/readers and implying it’s inherently of lesser quality

dingdongyouarewrong

like a lot of fanfiction is genuinely good and well-written! there’s some amazing work there! there is absolutely fanfiction out there that’s the same quality as well-written published works. being like ‘well, it’s cute, but it’s not real writing’ is just dismissive and frankly completely untrue.

but, at the same time, there are a lot of reasons it’s important to also read published works, and those reasons aren’t just ‘it’s better’. for one, a lot of writing original fiction involves introducing one’s own characters and setting to an audience who knows nothing about the characters or worldbuilding, which is generally not something you’re going to learn how to do by only reading stories where you already know the world and characters. that doesn’t mean the work isn’t good; it just means it doesn’t teach all of the skills you’ll need to know when writing

roach-works

im a lifelong fanfic writer, but one thing fanfic won’t teach you is how to end a story. or how to structure one, really. fanfic is itself a continuation of a story, it’s a transformative work, and… it’s kind of rare for long, chaptered fic to actually be complete. it’s awesome when it is! but you do kind of get used to reading fanfic as a big nebulous cloud of what-ifs, and furthermores, and so ons, and etc.

published fiction pretty much always has to have a start, middle, and ending. you can’t really learn formal anatomy from fanfiction. you can learn a lot of creative stuff that published fiction rarely has the freedom to engage in–aus and remixes, for instance–but fanfic really isn’t where you’re going to be able to study structure and discipline.

tsukithewolf

Thank god. Finally some good fanfic vs. published story dialogue.

mixelation

Fanfiction is also usually published as the author writes it, which means authors are limited in their ability to retroactively change story elements (removing plot holes or subplots that go nowhere, or adding foreshadowing for an important event they decided they wanted 1/3 into their story, etc). This means stories overall are generally less “polished” than professionally published work.

On a similar note, fic writers can “get away with” a lot more fluff that doesn’t move the story forward– ie, dedicating an entire chapter to characters cuddling, or spending a very long time explaining the economics system of a secret wizard world. This is a strength of fic because it’s often what people want to read– but it’s also something that usually hinges on the reader already being deeply invested in the characters and the world, which is a luxury you’re not going to get from a lot of original fiction.

derinthescarletpescatarian

Fanfiction isn’t necessarily better or worse than original fic, but it is a fundamentally different art. An aspiring fiction author reading only fanfic is like an aspiring fiction author reading only poetry; it’s great to enrich your skills by reading widely, but if you don’t read *the kind of art you are trying to make*, you won’t know how to make it.

#author thoughts #not my thought

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